


everything needs a reason for falling (and i have you)

by santiagoslisbon



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Love, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:41:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25458715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/santiagoslisbon/pseuds/santiagoslisbon
Summary: That sentence was...them. That sentence, that simple, yet beautiful stringing together of words, was so perfectly them. It somehow managed, and he had no idea how, to capture the very essence of their journey in a way nothing else had been able to.(or; jake and amy are on their way to their honeymoon and jake finds the perfect sentence to describe their relationship)
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 14
Kudos: 30





	everything needs a reason for falling (and i have you)

**Author's Note:**

> i have not been able to stop thinking about this for days, so i finally wrote it and now here we are. also, this is my first fanfic, so criticism is appreciated!!

The sun was shining in the afternoon sky, entering the car through the open window on the passenger’s side and shrouding Jake in warmth. His arm was propped against the car door, The Fault in Our Stars splayed open on his lap. Next to him, Amy was driving, her gaze set intently ahead of her, one hand on the steering wheel and the other slumped on the center console. The radio was on at a low volume, playing Taylor Swift songs on repeat. They were on their way to the airport, which would be taking them to their honeymoon resort in Mexico.

The trip hadn’t started out that way. Riding the newlywed high, Jake had spent the first hour of their trip studying Amy, memorizing the slight crease of her eyebrows, the pursing of her lips, the light rising and falling of her chest as she breathed. He marveled at the fact that Amy was his wife, that this was the life he got to live. 

At first, she hadn’t minded, letting him stare all he wanted. She didn’t say it out loud, but he knew that she was basking in the attention from him, knew that she was riding the same newlywed high, even if she didn’t express it as openly as him.

Then, they had taken a pit stop to get gas, and Jake had taken the opportunity to turn up the heat, waggling his eyebrows every time she met his gaze. 

Once she had entered the car again, slamming the car door shut, she gave him a once-over and immediately stated, “We are not having sex in this car.”

Feigning innocence, he had stuttered, “What - that’s not what I -“

“No.” She had reached behind her, grabbing a random book from the pile stacked high in the backseat and throwing it at him.

Rolling his eyes, he had read the title, The Fault in Our Stars, and let out a sigh.

He had only meant to pretend like he was enjoying the book, so that Amy would get off his back, and then admire her some more while she was distracted. What he hadn’t expected, however, was to actually enjoy The Fault in Our Stars. In any capacity.

As he devoured the book, curiosity taking over his senses, he suddenly paused, his gaze lingering on a single sentence: As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep; slowly, and then all at once. 

That sentence was...them. That sentence, that simple, yet beautiful stringing together of words, was so perfectly them. It somehow managed, and he had no idea how, to capture the very essence of their journey in a way nothing else had been able to.

A smile blossomed on his face and he fixed his eyes on Amy, waiting for the car to stop. He needed her to read that sentence if it was the last thing he asked of her.

The second the car stopped moving, her attention able to be diverted, he immediately set the book down on her lap, 

Her gaze shifted to the book, and then turned to meet his, clearly waiting for an explanation.

“Ames, you have to read this!” he exclaimed, his finger pointing to the start of the sentence.

Amy smiled, her lips turning upwards ever so slightly, her eyebrows raising, as she appraised him, studying him in the way that only she could. Studying him in the way that made his pulse quicken, his body feel like it was on fire, his veins flood with a primal wanting. 

Seemingly satisfied, her eyes found his awaiting finger, beginning to read the sentence to herself.

“No, read it out loud!” he blurted, a sudden anxiety taking over his body. 

Grinning, she looked up and examined him for a quick moment, then returned her gaze back to the page, 

Taking a quiet breath, she read, “As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep; slowly, and then all at once.”

Each word was delivered with a buttery smoothness, a purpose in the way her lips inflicted every word, that was breathtaking. She was able to take a simple sentence, eighteen words, and treat them like the gospel, like the most sacred words her eyes had ever set upon and her lips had ever uttered. 

There was a long pause, where Amy just stared at the page, her eyes unmoving. She remained that way for so long, she almost missed the light turning green before Jake alerted her.

Even after the car started again, even after her gaze was trained back on the road, she was silent, only traces of a smile left on her face. 

More time passed, how much Jake didn’t know, and the racking anxiety swallowed him whole. Had she really hated it that much? 

Then, he heard slight sniffling. 

On gut instinct, his hand immediately wrapped around her wrist, tugging on it slightly. 

“You okay?” he asked, his gaze training on her face, noticing the faint presence of tears accumulating in the corners of her eyes. 

She swallowed for a moment, her free hand swiping at her eyes, attempting to collect herself and failing. 

“Yeah, just- that was really -“ her voice broke, “that was really beautiful.”

Relief flooded through his veins, knocking him off-guard with its intensity. The anxiety that had gripped him only moments before had vanished, as if it had never been there to begin with. 

He unclenched his hand from around her wrist, his fingers making soothing strokes up and down her arm before threading their fingers together. Each of his fingers slotted through the gaps in hers like a perfect puzzle. 

Her gaze flitted down to their intertwined fingers, then to meet his. A grin suddenly ignited her features, her teeth exposing themselves from behind the confines of her lips, the corners of her eyes crinkling. At that moment, Jake Peralta swore that he was the luckiest man in the world to be married to Amy Santiago. 

“I love you, Jake,” she whispered, barely audible over the low hum of the radio. 

“I love you too, Ames,” he whispered back, his gaze never leaving hers. 

A long silence ensued, but this time, it was an intimate silence that only two people who knew each other better than most, who knew each other’s ins and outs like the palms of their hands, could enter. 

And at the next stop light, they shared a chaste kiss that, although brief, caused fireworks to burst within Jake’s veins, leaving him breathless.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to drish @amysknope for reading the first draft of this and for encouraging me to write it in the first place!! 💕💕 also i hope you enjoyed this even though it kinda sucks!


End file.
